


Heartbreaker

by sydkn3e



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean is a Softie, Hairdresser Castiel, M/M, Uncle Dean Winchester, Uncle-Niece Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 08:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11123799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydkn3e/pseuds/sydkn3e
Summary: Short written for a prompt in All Things Destiel & Cockles:Dean is babysitting his niece, Charlotte, and takes her for a haircut. Dean is crushing hard on Castiel, the cute stylist who has agreed to turn his five-year-old niece's long, flowy locks of brown hair into a royal blue mohawk. After a lot of intense staring and crush-induced awkwardness, Charlotte is annoyed by Dean's lack of initiation and takes things into her own hands.





	Heartbreaker

Dean holds the door open, beaming at his five-year-old niece as she flounces into the salon. She's wearing the Led Zeppelin shirt he bought her for Christmas and the pink and black Converses she insisted on at the mall earlier, and damned if Dean didn't happily oblige. The kid is already cooler than him, although it gives him great pleasure knowing that he had to have been her biggest influence. It certainly isn't her father; Sammy is a nerd through and through.

"So what are you thinking?" Dean asks as the two of them flip through some pictures of women's hairstyles over the years. "What about some bangs?" He points to a picture of a brunette with long, thick bangs splayed across her forehead.

Charlotte wrinkles her nose.

"Way too mainstream, Uncle Dean." She says matter-of-factly.

Dean cocks an eyebrow.

"Mainstream?" He scoffs. "You don't even know what that means, kid."

"Well, I know it's not good."

He looks over at her out of the corner of his eye and smiles.

"Okay then, how about...this?" Dean points to a woman with a short bob.

Charlotte shakes her head, instead pointing to a picture of a woman with dark black eyeliner, bright purple lipstick, and an edgy mohawk. "This! I like this!"

Dean raises his eyebrows and looks over at his niece, who has started bouncing excitedly in her seat.

"Really?"

Charlotte nods enthusiastically, her long and messy mop of brown locks bobbing, her smile reaching from ear to ear.

Dean hums. "Yeah, I think you could pull it off. But you know your mom and dad would kill me.."

Charlotte seems to consider that, and her face falls a little, immediately causing a painful twinge in Dean's heart.

"Let's do it."

The little girl's head snaps up and her eyes go wide.

"Really, Uncle Dean?"

"Really."

"You're the best!" She squeals, throwing herself into him and wrapping her little arms around his neck. Dean practically melts.

"So I take it you've made your decision, then?" A gravelly voice says over Charlotte's celebration, and both of them turn their attention to the source.

The voice is coming from a tall, broad, dark-haired man with significant stubble and the bluest eyes Dean thinks he's ever seen. Then the man smiles, and Dean's actually struck dumb for a moment. He opens his mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. Charlotte doesn't seem to notice her uncle's lack of response, because she's already showing the man the picture of the mohawk while hopping impatiently from foot to foot.

The man crouches down to Charlotte's height and takes a long look at the photo she shows him. Dean expects him to flinch, or at least question the young girl's choice of haircut, but instead the man furrows his brow and looks at Charlotte sincerely.

"Hmmm, yes. I think this will be perfect for you. But you know what would make it even better?"

Charlotte's eyes widen at him.

Again Dean suspects the guy is about to suggest a different cut, and again, he's taken by surprise.

"What?" She whispers dramatically.

"If we added some color, too." He whispers back, giving her a sideways smile, then glancing up at Dean and throwing him a wink.

Dean swallows and finds his throat too dry to speak, so he just nods.

"YES!" Charlotte practically screams, then turns to Dean. "What do you think, Uncle Dean? Should I do green? OOH! Or blue?!"

The man's eyes are meeting Dean's again, and he answers almost automatically.

"Yeah, blue. Blue sounds...beautiful."

The man smiles at Dean, the corners of his eyes crinkling, making his blues sparkle.

Dean snaps himself out of his trance by clearing his throat, finally looking down at his overly excited niece.

"So a blue mohawk. Awesome. It'll be fun explaining this one to your parents."

The man laughs and points to one of the chairs in the salon.

"Alright, brave girl. Go have a seat over there while I get your color ready."

Charlotte skips enthusiastically over to the chair and climbs up into it, plopping down and immediately spinning herself around and around. Both men watch her for a beat, Dean smiling ear to ear.

"What a cool kid." The man states, smiling over at Dean.

"Hell yeah she is." Dean laughs, then sticks out a hand. "I'm Dean."

"Cas." The man shakes his hand, letting it linger a little longer than necessary. Dean doesn't mind.

"Cas?"

"Short for Castiel." Cas shrugs, rolling his eyes a little. "Angel of Thursday. Religious family and all that."

"Ah, so you are an angel." The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them, and he practically cringes at the cheesy pickup line.

"I like people to think so." Cas says without a beat. "Doesn't mean they're right." He gives Dean a sly wink and walks away, leaving Dean gawking at his equally attractive backside.

\----------

Cas returns about five minutes later with a plastic bowl and brush, and he sits the mixed color on his work station and positions himself behind Charlotte's chair.

"You ready?" He asks her as he pumps the foot pedal, raising her chair to a level he can comfortably reach.

"Yes!" Charlotte says, and signs "yes" along with it. It was probably out of habit. Charlotte's mom and Sam's wife, Eileen, is deaf, so they all signed often when they spoke. Dean sometimes found himself doing it at work when Eileen obviously wasn't even around.

"You sign?" Cas asks, signing as well.

Charlotte beams and signs "yes" again.

Cas nods but doesn't question. Instead he just smiles down at the girl.

"Brave _and_ smart. I think you're my new favorite client." Cas busies himself with her hair, combing it out and pulling it into a loose ponytail on top of her head, holding in there with his hand. "Okay, you ready for the big chop, rockstar?"

Charlotte takes a deep breath and nods. Dean realizes he's holding his breath too.

"How about we let Uncle Dean do the honors?" Cas asks, and he holds out the shears to Dean, giving him that endearing sideways smile.

Dean falters a bit before answering.

"I-uh. Yeah. Yeah, okay."

He takes the shears and steps forward as Cas steps to the side a little, out of his way, still holding the girl's hair tight in his hand.

"Cut just above my hand." He instructs, motioning to the correct area. Dean nods, and in a few short snips, an easy six inches of hair is laying on the floor. Charlotte squeals nervously and kicks her feet on the chair.

Dean smiles down at his niece then looks over at Cas, who is watching him with interest. He nods in approval and Dean steps out of the way.

Cas dangles the hair momentarily in the mirror, and Charlotte's eyes widen before she breaks out in a huge grin.

"No turning back now!" Cas teases, and Charlotte giggles, squirming in her seat. "Okay, now be very still so I can make you look like the rockstar you are. Cool?"

Charlotte nods and goes stone still, and Cas works his magic, alternating between shears and clippers, moving his beautiful hands deftly over the little girl's hair. Dean watches, mesmerized, as Cas works, dropping pieces of his niece's hair to the floor with each fluid movement. When he's done, only about 20 minutes have passed, but in that 20 minutes Dean somehow feels like he's learned everything he needs to know about Castiel.

"You did great!" Cas compliments, brushing some stray strands of hair off Charlotte's neck. "Now I'm going to do the color and you're all done, okay?"

Charlotte nods again, and Cas grabs his plastic bowl of color and begins brushing it on her new edgy haircut. He glances up at Dean and smirks a little, and only then does Dean realize the color is nearly identical to the man's eyes.

He's almost sure it's just coincidental.

"So Dean," Cas starts, barely looking up from his work, "what do you do for a living?"

"Mechanic." Dean says automatically. He's having a hard time tearing his eyes from Castiel's hands.

Cas notices, and grins a little. "Yeah? Hmm."

"That surprise you?"

"I can't decide. On the one hand, I can see that, sure. But...I don't know. You also look like the modeling type."

Dean blushes hard, and runs a hand over his face to try to keep Cas from noticing. He fails. He sees Charlotte cut her eyes over at him by her reflection in the mirror, and she smiles mischievously.

"What's wrong, Uncle Dean?"

Dean feels himself redden again but he feigns sternness.

"Pipe down, kiddo." He says playfully, and she does, but her smile never wavers. "So, uh...how long you been doing...this?" He gestures around the salon.

Cas shrugs. "Eh. Few years, I suppose. I actually originally went to school for art, but it's tough out there for artists." He cuts his eyes to Dean briefly before returning to Charlotte's hair. "My brother Gabe offered me a job here, with paid training, so I just do the art on the side now."

Before Dean has a chance to ask what kind of art Cas does, wondering out of honest curiosity at this point instead of politeness, he hears a voice loudly behind him.

"Someone say Gabe?" A short man with combed-back brown hair came into view, giving Dean a quick once over. He has a long face and an almost pointed chin, with a seemingly perpetual gleam to his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Charlotte! You can call me Lottie, though. That's what Uncle Dean calls me." Charlotte is practically bouncing in her seat.

"Well hey there, Lottie! Cool 'do you've got there!" Gabe says enthusiastically, crossing his arms over his chest. "I trust Cassie here is taking good care of you?"

Charlotte nods her head, and Cas chuckles.

"Dean, this is my brother, Gabe. As if you couldn't tell." Cas scoffs lightly as he applies a generous amount of blue to Charlotte's hair.

Gabe turns to look at Dean and gives a long whistle.

"Well hello. How ya doin', Deano?"

"'m fine."

Gabe nods at him absentmindedly, and Cas clears his throat loudly.

"Alright, Gabe, I've got this. You can leave now."

Gabe raises his hands in mock surrender. "Fine. Touchy, touchy. Thank you guys for coming in. And rock on, Lottie!"

Charlotte giggles and kicks her feet as Gabe walks away.

Finally, once her head is fully saturated in blue, Cas sits his bowl and brush down and peels off his gloves.

"Okay Lottie, twenty minutes then we'll wash it out. How 'bout you play a game while you wait?" He hands her his own phone, to Dean's surprise, and Charlotte immediately goes to work, furrowing her brow in concentration as she constantly swipes at the screen.

Dean is suddenly fully aware that he's about to get a whole twenty minutes of this beautiful man's undivided attention, and he has no idea what to say to him. He swallows thickly, and of course, Cas notices.

"Relax, Dean." He says coolly, and he offers Dean a seat, then sits down beside him. "You don't need to impress me."

It isn't much, but Dean actually lets out a small sigh of relief.

"Well, good. Because I've done a piss-poor job of it so far." He lets out a breathy laugh.

Castiel hums. "I wouldn't say that. You're very...intriguing to me."

"Yeah?"

Cas turns his head lazily to look at him, giving him a small smile. "Of course."

"So.." Dean's voice cracks a little with Cas's gaze on him, and he clears his throat and tries again. "So what kind of art do you do?"

Cas gives a wicked grin, like he has a secret. "I dabble in a little bit of everything. But I paint nude portraits, mostly."

Dean's throat goes dry for the second time since entering the salon.

"Oh..." he breathes.

"Yeah." He laughs. "And I hate to be the 'paint me like one of your French girls' guy, but you're a beautiful specimen. I'd love to have the opportunity to paint you." He leans forward to whisper. "If you'd be willing, that is."

Dean laughs and thumbs at the corner of his mouth awkwardly. "I, uh..."

"You most certainly don't have to," Cas concedes, "if you don't want to. But the offer's there. I'm very professional."

"I'm sure you are." Dean says sincerely.

Cas nods, completely straight-faced. Holy Hell, he's serious. The thought of being naked in front of this man shouldn't be turning Dean on this much.

They make small talk for the rest of the time, and the next thing he knows, Cas has rinsed Charlotte's color and dried and styled her hair into the most badass looking mohawk Dean thinks he's ever seen. He smiles proudly at her as she beams at her reflection, her lone dimple furrowing deeply in her right cheek.

"I can't wait to show mommy and daddy!" She exclaims proudly, fingering a lock of her remaining hair.

"Ohhh I sure can." Dean chuckles, running a hand over his face.

"They'll love it." Cas assures them both. "Wear it with confidence, Lottie. It looks awesome."

They all walk to the front of the salon, Charlotte in deep conversation with Cas about how Zeppelin is the "greatest rock band of our time", and Dean chuckles at hearing his words come out of his niece's mouth. And Cas is amazing with her, completely sincere in his answers instead of the half-assed "yeahs" and "okays" that strangers typically give young children.

It warms Dean's heart.

He pays at the front desk and turns and slips Cas a fifty dollar bill, which is much too large of a tip, but Dean is so appreciative of Cas's interaction with Charlotte, not to mention his strong build, agile hands, and _blue fucking eyes_ that it doesn't seem right to give him any less.

Cas thanks him as he takes the money, and their hands linger on one another's again briefly, until Dean pulls away.

"Hey, thanks Cas. We'll definitely be back."

Cas nods, smiling. "I look forward to it."

Cas watches as Dean turns to go, holding open the door once again for his niece, but Charlotte stops in her tracks and frowns at him.

"That's it?" She huffs, pulling at Dean's jacket.

"What's it, Lottie?" Dean asks, furrowing his brow in confusion.

Charlotte crosses her little arms over her chest and rolls her eyes, then turns to look at Cas, placing a hand on her hip.

"Do you like my Uncle Dean?" She asks him, and Dean's eyes widen as his face reddens. He looks at Cas in horror.

"Oh. My. God..."

But Cas just laughs, throwing his head back, his eyes and nose crinkling with the effort. When he finally stops, he wipes a tear from his eye, and looks down at the sassy five-year-old.

"Why, yes, Lottie. I think I do."

Charlotte then turns and focuses her gaze on Dean, who at this point feels like shrinking into the grout on the black and white tiled floor.

"Are you gonna ask him out on a date or not, Uncle Dean?"

Dean scoffs and rubs nervously at the back of his neck, his face burning as two sets of eyes regard him; a pair of wide brown ones and blazing blue ones.

"Uh." He coughs and drops his head, then looks back up through his eyelashes. "Would you...go on a date with me, Cas?"

Before Cas could answer, a loud whooping comes from an unseen part of the salon, and Cas rolls his eyes.

"For once, I think I share Gabe's sentiment." He laughs, and shoves his hands in his pockets. "I'd love to, Dean."

Dean grins widely, staring directly into those goddamned _blue_ eyes as Cas stares back into his.

"See? That wasn't so hard." Charlotte says dramatically. "Now come on, you promised you'd take me to get pie." She takes Dean's hand and begins pulling him out of the salon, Cas still laughing at her audacity.

Dean shrugs and smiles as he lets his niece pull him out of the salon.

"I'll call you!" He yells back to Cas, and Cas just nods and smiles.

Dean's so dazed the rest of the evening, he almost forgets about stopping to get the two of them pie.

Almost.


End file.
